A new dental office being built in Tamiami Crossing at Collier Boulevard and U.S. 41 East is one of many new locations planned for dentists in the Naples area.Tim Aten

Aspen Dental is building a freestanding office in the Tamiami Crossing retail center on the southeast corner of U.S. 41 East and Collier Boulevard.(Photo: Aspen Dental)

Q: Do you know what is going to be built in front of Ulta on 951 at Tamiami Crossings? They cleared the land and are working on building something.

— Nicki Melzer Hildebrant, Naples

Q: Do you know what is being built at the corner of 951 and 41 in Tamiami Crossing by the new Marshalls and Stein Mart?

— Eric Walbert, Naples

A: The first outparcel under construction in Tamiami Crossing will be a freestanding dental office.

Aspen Dental will front Collier Boulevard just to the west of the Ulta store, the endcap of the shopping center on the southeast corner of U.S. 41 East and Collier Boulevard. The 4,154-square-foot dental office is being built on a lot at 13100 U.S. 41 E. that is less than an acre, according to site plan information filed with the Collier County Growth Management Department.

Tamiami Crossing has space for as many as three additional outparcels on vacant acreage bordering the retail center. Another nearly 2 acres fronts Collier Boulevard just south of the future dental office, and 1.41 acres is available on U.S. 41 near the Circle K store.

Indianapolis-based Kite Realty Group, the owner of the retail center, declined to provide information on plans for the vacant property.

“As of right now, we are not commenting on the outparcels,” emailed Ashley Underwood, Kite’s senior analyst for investor relations and strategy.

The outparcels will join a strip of six large retail stores that opened last year. In addition to Marshalls, Stein Mart and Ulta, the inline stores include Michaels, Ross and PetSmart.

Aspen Dental, headquartered in New York, is a dental practice management corporation that has branded nearly 650 offices in 36 states. The first location in the Naples area launched about five years ago, redeveloping the former endcap location of Remy’s Bistro in Pine Ridge Crossing shopping center. The company could not provide a target opening date for its new office in Tamiami Crossing.

A rendering of the Engle Dentistry office that is being built at 1390 U.S. 41 N. in Naples. (Photo: Stofft Cooney Architects)

It appears the tooth fairy has been keeping busy in Collier County. Construction of at least four other dental offices is in the works in the Naples area.

This column reported earlier this summer on Engle Dentistry’s redevelopment of the former site of Pippin’s restaurant at U.S. 41 and 14th Avenue North in Naples. Naples-based Integral Building Corp. began construction this spring on the 10,000-square-foot contemporary dental center.

An earlier mention also was made about the Charming Smiles dental office planning to move into a future freestanding building on a lot next to the new MedExpress urgent care center in the Brooks Village retail center on the southwest corner of Pine Ridge Road and Collier Boulevard. Charming Smiles purchased that 1-acre parcel at 12995 Collier Blvd. late last year.

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Ground is being leveled for a Heartland Dental office in front of the Goodwill store in Cameron Commons on Immokalee Road just east of Collier Boulevard. (Photo: Tim Aten/Naples Daily News)

In addition, Heartland Dental plans construction of two other new dental offices near Collier Boulevard. Both locations are targeted to open in 2018.

Ground is being leveled for the first site in the second phase of Cameron Commons on Immokalee Road just east of Collier Boulevard. The property fronts Immokalee Road at Goodland Bay Drive and is directly in front of the Goodwill store on Sage Avenue.

Professional Resource Development Inc. of Effingham, Illinois, purchased the 1.64 acres of vacant commercial land for $1.7 million in January, Collier County property records show. PRDI is the real estate and development company for Heartland Dental, also based in Effingham, a small city in southern Illinois.

“We are actually going to do two buildings on that lot,” said John Collier, real estate manager at Heartland Dental, which supports more than 800 offices across 34 states.

In addition to a 4,150-square-feet freestanding dental office in Cameron Commons, another 5,680-square-foot stand-alone building on that lot will be shared by two other national businesses. Site plans show Verizon Wireless and Sherwin-Williams paint retail stores as the tenants proposed for the second building.

Heartland Dental also will be a tenant in Stock Plaza on the northwest corner of Collier Boulevard and Grand Lely Drive. The 4,000-square-foot office will share a building with one or two businesses yet to be named for the adjoining 3,000 square feet.

Construction will start soon on this fourth building in the plaza. The multitenant building will be in front of Skillets restaurant and nearest to the intersection for the entrances to the Lely Resort and Verona Walk communities.

Although the new dental offices will be operated by Heartland Dental, don’t expect to see Heartland’s name on the buildings, Collier said.

“We will use landmark local names. We are not big into branding,” he said.

Have a local question? Email it with your name and city of residence to intheknow@naplesnews.com. Tim Aten’s “In the Know” is published every Monday and Wednesday. Like In the Know on Facebook at facebook.com/timaten.intheknow.